For many years, manufacturers and developers of high performance power electronics have sought to improve power-handling density of discrete electronic components.
For power electronics, however, there is a need to achieve improved power density by techniques other than reducing device dimensions. There is a need for innovative device architectures that allow for greater current-per-unit-area, higher voltages, lower on-resistance, and shorter switching time. Such device architectures would provide greater power density resulting in smaller power electronic switching systems, they also would provide for faster and more efficient switching, resulting in reduced energy consumption and reduced heat generation.